City announces new housing rehab program grants

COHOES, N.Y. >> City officials recently announced a new$450,000 rehab homeowner program.

Officials said this program will allow for a homeowner to make major improvements to their homes that would not otherwise be possible.

“Owning a home is the biggest expense for most people and not having the means to keep your home updated and well maintained is often overwhelming,” said Mayor Shawn Morse in a news release. “Today, we will help relieve that burden for many Cohoes families. I am very proud to offer this opportunity. It is one of the many new opportunities residents have been afforded during my time in office.”

Officials said the City of Cohoes was awarded a HOME grant from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal in March 2016. Grants of up to $45,000 per residential unit are now available from the City for the purpose of making health and safety, energy efficiency and other critical improvements to owner- occupied buildings (including single family and 2- 4 unit properties).

According to the news release, the purpose of the HOME program is to increase the availability and quality of afford-

able housing for lower income families. As such, all residential units rehabilitated using HOME funds must be occupied by families whose annual income does not exceed limits established by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for Albany County. Those limits can be found at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ il/il2017/2017summary.odn

City officials said application materials will be available starting October 17, 2018 at the Economic & Community Development Office in City Hall, 97 Mohawk Street Cohoes, NY 12047. Contact Debbie Jacques at the City at (518) 233-2121 Ext. 218 for information on howto apply.

Applications will not be accepted after November 2, 2018 @ 4:00 p.m. and will be time stamped, so the sooner you are able to submit a complete application the better. If two identical applications are received, the one that is turned into the City first will be ranked higher.

Officials said a detailed summary of eligibility criteria and other requirements of the program is available upon request.